A super awesome Chocolate Soufflé was made, (yes, the actual thing and not a pudding as i have heard people popularly refer to a cooked custard (shudder!)-Soufflér in French means to 'puff up', so a pudding could hardly be called a Soufflé, right?) So moving on, we can now establish the fact that the soufflé is indeed the diva of desserts. It's the stuff that dreams are made of (and nightmares, but only because they are so easy to screw up.)
The soufflé is really just a piece of cake. just a delicious, light-as-air, ethereal piece of cake that melts in your mouth. because it is, after all, more air than matter. There's a bit of science behind the thing and understanding it goes a long way. So onto the basics: A classic soufflé has two main components: a starch-thickened egg yolk-rich base, and whipped egg whites.
In this case, (recipe adapted with changes from here), the base is flavored with chocolate, yolks and sugar. Without the addition of the whipped egg whites, you’d have a rich chocolate pudding. But, fold in the whipped egg whites, and something amazing happens.
A quick heads up though: This work of art is a babe in a hurry. You have less than ten seconds to click good pictures of this before it starts to deflate. No offense, and it still tastes great, inspite of the sunken dome. but if you want to record the moment in history, set your props and keep the camera ready. Or else, you can be like me, 'Oooh and Aaaah' and then wake up to reality and then click the pics. I did'nt mind it too much, this is just the beginning! :)
2 egg yolks
3 egg whites
80 g Chocolate
20 g Butter plus a little extra for buttering the ramekins
1 tablespoon sugar plus more for dusting ramekins
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Gianduia
Preheat the oven to 175 C.
Melt the chocolate and the butter in a bain-marie and once it has melted, remove from the heat and add the Gianduia. Stir and keep aside to cool a bit.
Add the yolks one at a time and whisk till it has fully been incorporated.
Take the egg whites in a clean vessel, add the sugar and the lemon juice and combine using a mixer till stiff peaks form.
Gently fold in the egg white mixture into the chocolate in batches. Spoon into the ramekins till 3/4 full and run your finger along the collar of the ramekin to ensure even rising.
Pop into the oven and bake the souffles for about 15 minutes or until puffed and set. Sprinkle the tops with powdered sugar if desired and serve ASAP.
Have fun! :)
P.S: Word of advice, do not over beat the egg whites, you may end up with bits of cooked egg in the soufflé, not cool.
